The Mendelssohn-Remise, which preserves the legacy of the family of Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, as well as Jewish history in the German capital, could soon close.
The Mendelssohn-Remise in Berlin is located in the inner courtyard of a building from the Baroque periodImage: Marcel Fürstenau/DW
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They were philosophers, bankers, and musicians: The Jewish Mendelssohn family left distinctive marks on Germany's intellectual, economic, and cultural life as early as the 18th century.
However, the family's zenith ended abruptly in 1933, when the Nazis seized power in Germany. The eventful history of the Mendelssohns is commemorated in a building that once belonged to them, in the center of Berlin.
The Mendelssohn-Remise, which lies on a side street off Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt Square, was originally part of a bank and later used as a carriage house. Today, this historic site is home to a privately run museum that organizes concerts, readings, discussions and guided tours.
The multifunctional exhibition hall of the Mendelssohn-Remise is both a museum and concert hallImage: Manfred Fuß/Mendelssohn-Gesellschaft
From bank to concert venue
But the museum's position is only secure until the end of 2024. The building's owner, a hedge fund company, has drastically increased the rent, and is pressuring the museum to negotiate a contract that will include termination at short notice. The director of the Mendelssohn-Remise, Thomas Lackmann, told DW that these conditions will make running the museum impossible.
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This gem that preserves Jewish German history — and its current cultural life — has for the past 20 years mainly been financed through the Mendelssohn Society by private donations and membership fees. The society was founded in 1967 and is responsible for running the museum and organizing the varied programs in the exhibition hall.
"If there is no forthcoming institutional support that can help compensate for our structural budget deficit, this memorial site will become an on-call history workshop," said Lackmann, describing the dilemma. The building's rent is set to rise by 25% to around €80,000 ($86,000) annually.
"The 12-month notice period will mean we can no longer undertake sensible museum work," said Lackmann. The option of a three-year notice period on offer is equally out of the question, he added, as that would require an additional termination fee of €28,000.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was the most famous musician in a large family dynastyImage: Mendelssohn-Gesellschaft
Closure of Mendelssohn-Remise would 'damage the culture of remembrance'
Should the Mendelssohn-Remise be forced to close its doors at the end of this year, the traditional "The Last Rose of Summer" festival, presented in mid-August, would also mark the end of a top-class chamber music concert series.
This year, its program includes performances by international stars such as Vladimir Stoupel on piano and Judith Ingolfsson on viola, and a piano quartet composed by Fanny Hensel, sister of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
During her lifetime, Hensel, who composed more than 450 works, remained in the shadow of her more famous brother. Busts of the two Hamburg-born siblings greet visitors in the idyllic courtyard of the Mendelssohn-Remise, with its fountain and benches.
The two composers' most creative period was spent in Berlin, and in Leipzig where Felix was the Gewandhaus Kapellmeister, or conductor.
"There are Mendelssohn museums in Hamburg and Leipzig. But soon, Berlin won't have one," said Lackmann, adding that such a reality "would damage the culture of remembrance."
The latest concert at the Mendelssohn-Remise included a piano quartet composed by Fanny Hensel, sister of Felix Mendelssohn BartholdyImage: Mendelssohn-Gesellschaft
The name Moses Mendelssohn stands for overcoming hatred and building bridges between religions. A philosopher and polymath, Moses Mendelssohn shaped the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century.
Lackmann is particularly keen to remind the public of this tradition, calling it "a legacy of tolerance, but also of civic responsibility."
German Enlightenment: From Kant and Mendelssohn to Habermas
With the Age of Enlightenment, calls arose for the power of reason, liberty and progress. Here are the leading German Enlightenment philosophers.
Image: Imago Images/Golovanov/Kivrin
Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786)
At the time of the 18th- century Enlightenment movement in Europe, the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment, movement developed around Moses Mendelssohn, a philosopher and immigrant to Berlin. He was a celebrity and was even more famous than Immanuel Kant in his day and age.
Image: Roman März
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Today, Immanuel Kant stands for the philosophy of the Enlightenment in Germany like no other. Every student will have heard his famous categorical imperative quote: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law." His 1781 book "The Critique of Pure Reason" laid the foundations of modern philosophy.
Image: Imago Images/Golovanov/Kivrin
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803)
Johann Gottfried Herder, a student of Kant's, is also considered one of the most important philosophers of the Enlightenment period in Germany. In his main work, "Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Humanity," he identified the purpose of man's existence as being purely "directed toward the formation of humanity," meant to serve all the "lowly needs of the earth and itself lead to them."
Image: Everett Collection/picture alliance
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716)
Leibniz was a philosopher of the early Enlightenment and one of its most important pioneers. Even before Kant, he formulated an important maxim of Enlightenment thought, namely that every human being has the ability to lead a sensible life.
Image: Photo12/imago images
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781)
Tolerance, freedom and the new self-confidence of the middle classes — these ideas were at the heart of Lessing's plays and writings. Above all, he criticized religious dogmatism and advocated equal rights for different religions. In his play "Nathan the Wise," the titular charcater is largely modeled after his lifelong friend, the Jewish Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
Image: imago/Leemage
Theodor Adorno (1903-1969)
The ideas advocated in the Enlightenment have survived for centuries. Nevertheless, fascist and destructive ideologies were able to emerge in Germany and Europe. How did that happen? This question was the focus of Theodor Adorno's work. In the 1940s, Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1895-1973) created a critical theory entitled "Dialectic of Enlightenment."
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas is one of the most influential thinkers of our time, known for taking a stand on social and ethical issues. In his view, communicative action is the basis of society. This, in turn, are based on understanding — and that is what his philosophy has in common with Enlightenment thought.
Image: imago stock&people
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No permanent funding from federal gov't
The plethora of fascinating stories from the extensive Mendelssohn family illustrate how one can be engaged with society, said Lackmann, who is also a journalist and author. He believes the government has a duty to ensure the preservation of the Mendelssohn philosophy.
DW inquired about the situation at the office of Claudia Roth, Germany's commissioner for culture and the media, or BKM. A spokesperson replied: "Institutional funding from the BKM budget is not possible, but the society could, in principle, apply for funding from the Capital Cultural Fund."
However, since that body is oriented toward project funding, Lackmann believes it would only be able to provide temporary assistance to the Mendelssohn-Remise.
Roth's office did not wish to comment on the significance of the Mendelssohn-Remise for the cultural and intellectual life of Berlin — nor on whether Berlin could afford to forego this historic site, with its immediate connection to the Mendelssohn family. In both cases, the office implied that responsibility fell to the city government, not the federal level.
DW's query to Joe Chialo, Berlin's senator for culture and social cohesion, also received a spokesman's reply: "Preserving the Mendelssohn-Remise as a meeting, event and exhibition venue is an important concern for us. Since its opening in 2004, the Mendelssohn-Remise has developed into a place of outstanding cultural and political importance."
Chialo has sent a letter to the building's owner, requesting that the rental agreement with the Mendelssohn Society be continued on its previous terms.
"In addition, we are currently making inquiries to determine whether the state of Berlin can support events at the Remise."
During the Nazi era, the swastika was emblazoned next to the entrance of the building that now houses the Mendelssohn-RemiseImage: Mendelssohn-Gesellschaft
Appeal for donations
Chialo's office said it could not promise long-term financial support, and it appears the chances of rescue are dwindling with each day. Lackmann and his volunteer team can now only hope for help from other sources and have already launched appeals for private donations.
Recently, a check arrived from the US from the sponsors of an American opera house, who had been in Berlin and had organized their own concert in the Mendelssohn-Remise. "I think people on the outside have a much more sensitive and enthusiastic view; they can see how special this place is," said Lackmann.
Lackmann is now left to hope that a wealthy person might buy the entire building complex. Not just as an investment, but with a bit of idealism: To continue the tradition of the Enlightenment.
This article was originally written in German.
Key German-Jewish figures
The digital remembrance project "Tsurikrufn" commemorates German-Jewish cultural workers from before 1933 — musicians, filmmakers, artists, architects.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
Friedl Dicker (1898-1944)
The Austrian-Czech architect, photographer, painter and educator was one of the most successful Bauhaus students. In the 1920s, she managed to establish herself with her interior designs. She also set an important course for art therapy. Via Vienna and Prague, she was deported to Terezin (Theresienstadt) in 1942, and was killed two years later in Auschwitz.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
Joseph Joachim (1831-1907)
Joseph Joachim was born in Kopcseny, not far from Bratislava, the seventh child of a Hungarian-Austrian Jewish merchant family. In 1843 the talented musician studied the violin and composition at the new conservatory in Leipzig. He later organized the first Schumann exhibition at Bonn's Beethovenhaus.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
Fritz Haber (1868-1934)
At the start of the 20th century, the Nobel Prize winner for chemistry created the basis for the production of unlimited quantities of artificial fertilizer with his work on ammonia synthesis. He helped secure food for a rapidly growing global population. When the Nazis seized power, he lost his job and had to leave Germany.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
Hanns Ludwig Katz (1892-1940)
The artist and art historian organized concerts and lectures with his wife Franziska. Active in the Frankfurt Cultural Association of German Jews, the painter dreamed of a Jewish artists' settlement in Yugoslavia. National Socialism forced him to emigrate to South Africa — where his work was forgotten. Kunsthalle Emden has 11 of the sole remaining 76 paintings.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
Julius F. Wollf (1873-1942)
Born to a devout Jewish family, religion never played a role for the journalist. From 1903 onward, he headed the "Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten," which was the largest newspaper in Saxony at the time. He was instrumental in the opening of the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden in 1930. In 1942, he and his wife committed suicide to escape deportation.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
Lucian Bernhard (1883-1972)
The designer contributed significantly to the development of the modern concept of design, and left his mark on advertising and culture in the early 20th century. He created a typeface he named "Bernhard." Bernhard designed posters, packaging, textiles, interiors and brands for many companies. He emigrated from Berlin to the USA in 1923.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
Kurt Pinthus (1886-1973)
Versed in music, theater and literature, the author is considered a pioneer of 20th-century expressionist literature in Germany. As an editor and critic, he wrote for the "Frankfurter Zeitung," among other publications. He emigrated to the USA in 1937 and later became a professor of theater history at Columbia University in New York.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
Tuvia Rübner (1924-2019)
A survivor of the Nazi era, the poet was keen on how to deal with the Holocaust in a literary form. He received numerous prizes for his poems. For more information about German-Jewish personalities and their work, check out the digital remembrance project Tsurikrufn.de.
Image: tsurikrufn.de
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